Friday, 8 April 2011

I live within 50 miles of a Nuclear Reactor that is the same design as the plant in Fukushima Japan. Experts in the field of Nuclear Reactors have long warned that this kind of plant has major design flaws and is not easy to shut down safely. Nonetheless we have 23 of these plants operating in the United States. (After more than 30 years of operation we still have no safe way to dispose of radioactive waste despite all the optimistic promises that have been made for years about the hopes of scientific research.)

Additionally radioactivity affects us over time and repeated exposure. It diminishes very slowly and it is the repeated or continuous exposure that is damaging to living beings. The more radioactivity we pump into the atmosphere and environment, the more is there to be damaging to us all. (It doesn't dissolve in the ocean or the air - it is diluted by raising the overall level of radioactivity in the large volume of water or air, but that simply means a tiny bit more overall exposure to everything within that volume.)

I have just written a letter to my governmental representatives and President to that they close down the G.E. mark 1 Nuclear reactors that currently provided less than 4% power in the U.S. and yet represent danger to the American public because of their flawed design and lack of clear procedure on how to shut them down.

As I am sure you know, there are 23 GE Mark I reactors currently in use in the U.S. This is particularly disturbing to me as I live near one of them located in Monticello, MN, a reactor that has the same design that has failed so catastrophically in Fukushima, Japan.

The A.E.C and other regulatory officials have warned us about the flaws of this particular reactor design for some 40 years. The flaws in this design are fundamental and cannot be fixed and these reactors can not easily be shut down (especially in times of crisis or emergency.)

Put together, these 23 reactors provide less than 4% of the nation's electricity. This means that electric needs can be provided in different ways.

Please close these reactors permanently and do it now. Thank you very much.